Vatican police arrest two for document leaks

VATICAN (CNS): The Vatican press office announced on November 2 that Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, the secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, and Francesca Chaouqui, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See, had been arrested for leaking documents to two Italian authors. The Vatican called it a “serious betrayal of the trust bestowed by the pope.”

Both had been working on a commission that was established by Pope Francis to develop greater fiscal responsibility and transparency in all Vatican offices.

Chaouqui was later released for cooperating with the investigation, but a spokesperson for the Vatican said that Monsignor Vallejo Balda’s release remains under consideration by the Vatican prosecutor.